Second Circuit Judge Rosemary S. Pooler, revisiting a case she presided over in the Northern District of New York, has declined to vacate the conviction of a defendant who contended that he was denied effective counsel by a sleepy attorney.
Alfonso Williams, who faces a 12 1/2-year sentence for conspiracy to distribute and possession of cocaine and crack, contended that his trial attorney, Stephen Lance Cimino of Syracuse, N.Y., had slept through large portions of his 11-week 1997 trial. Williams was one of 11 defendants in the case.
